Under the Tuscan Sun (2003)

While on vacation, a just-divorced writer buys a villa in Tuscany on a whim, hoping it will be the start of a change for the better in her life.

Director:

Audrey Wells

Writers:

Frances Mayes (book), Audrey Wells (screen story),

Stars:

Diane Lane, Sandra Oh, Lindsay Duncan

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Diane Lane	...	Frances
Sandra Oh	...	Patti
Lindsay Duncan	...	Katherine
Raoul Bova	...	Marcello
Vincent Riotta	...	Martini
Mario Monicelli	...	Old Man with Flowers
Roberto Nobile	...	Placido
Anita Zagaria	...	Fiorella
Evelina Gori	...	Nona Cardinale
Giulia Steigerwalt	...	Chiara
Pawel Szajda	...	Pawel
Valentine Pelka	...	Jerzy
Sasa Vulicevic	...	Zbignew
Massimo Sarchielli	...	Nino
Claudia Gerini	...	Signora Raguzzi

Storyline

After Frances's seemingly happy San Francisco marriage ends abruptly, she goes into a funk. Urged by her friends to move on, she joins a bus tour of Tuscany where, on the spur of the moment, she buys a crumbling villa. She assembles a crew of oddballs and immigrants to repair the house; over the next year, as they work, she welcomes one of her San Francisco friends who's pregnant and at loose ends, and she seeks love, first (tenuously) with her married real estate agent, then with a charming stranger. Although life gets in the way of love, Frances's wishes come true in unexpected ways, and there's always the Tuscan sun.

---

Plot Keywords:

writer | love | villa | divorce | house | 

---

Taglines:

Life offers you a thousand chances ... all you have to do is take one.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language

Details

Country:

USA Italy

Language:

English Italian Polish French Spanish German

Release Date:

26 September 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bajo el sol de Toscana

Filming Locations:

Cassa di Risparmio di Firenze, Florence, Tuscany, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$18,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£203,634 (UK) (26 March 2004)

Gross:

£440,167 (UK) (2 April 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Touchstone Pictures, Timnick Films, Blue Gardenia Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The elderly owner of Bramasole, grateful for a sign that Frances is the "right" buyer, cries out, "Grazie, Santo Francesco!" when a bird defecates on Frances's head. "Santo Francesco" is Saint Francis, the patron saint of animals.

---

Goofs

On the market prices are in lire, however the euro was introduced in 2002.

---

Quotes

Frances: This is really bad, isn't it?
Patti: Well, it's not good. Unless you want to give your ass a facial.
Frances: That's a contradiction in terms.
Patti: i guess it would be more like an Ass-cail

---

Connections

Spoofs La Dolce Vita (1960)

---

Soundtracks

"Humming Chorus"
(from "Madama Butterfly")
Music by Giacomo Puccini
Lyrics by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
Performed by Orchestra e Coro del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (as Rome Opera House Chorus and Rome Opera House Orchestra)
Courtesy of BMG Classics
Under license from BMG Special Products, Inc.

User Reviews

Chick Flick for the Scenery, Not for the Romance or Brains

"Under the Tuscan Sun" is a glossy chick flick with a radiant star and beautiful scenery, but that was just not enough for me to get beyond wincible dialogue and cornball situations.

Beautiful, talented Diane Lane is certainly deserving of a star vehicle and I pluncked down my full fare to be sure she gets credit for putting this fanny in a seat.

I do note that screenplay co-writer/director Audrey Wells (who played on chick flick stereotype turnabouts much more creatively in her script for "The Truth About Cats and Dogs") womanfully put some creative tweaks on creaky conventions of the genre -- the caustic best friend is a pregnant lesbian Asian-American (one of my favorite actresses, Sandra Oh, who has been so good in little Canadian dramas and as a comedienne in "Arli$$"), we don't have to meet the one-dimensional two-timing husband, the secondary stories have some different ethnic gloss, and there's a little twist in the concluding romantic expectations. Poor Lindsay Duncan being the usual eccentric Brit, stuck in Fellini fantasies, complete with a ridiculous Anita-Ekberg-in-the-fountain imitation.

We get only a hint of real Italian men's machismo as yet again in movies a fantasy Mediterranean clime is used to loosen up an Anglo's sensuality (as Lane gloriously exults in a funny salute to herself: "I've still got it!")-- is this now a tourist marketing ploy? Even a festival is thrown in for literal local color for no other particular reason.

With the male eye candy here not even given any interesting characterization, I tolerated sitting through it more restlessly than even recent weak chick flicks "Alex and Emma" and "Maid in Manhattan."